The Mood Ring
by Ziska Ames
Summary: Mamoru's mood ring goes missing and who should find it?


Hi, minna!! Well, I did something I didn't think I was capable of.   
I wrote a completely pointless and frivolous romance with no plot or   
substance at all. And I think an okay romantic scene. Let me know  
what you think, please. I'm not very good at writing stuff like kissing  
scenes, and I'd really like to know what ya'll think of this fic. Just a   
little ditty though popped into my head really.  
  
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon does not belong to me.  
  
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"The Mood Ring"  
Recorded by Ziska Ames  
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Mamoru gently held the small ring between his fingertips. He   
examined the rather real looking stone, before setting it down on the   
white counter. "I don't know why you thought *I* would want this, Motoki.   
What am I going to do with a ring?" He said it bitterly with a touch of   
sadness. He almost wished he *did* have someone to give the ring too.  
  
"I don't know. I just found it and thought you might like it. It's   
a mood ring, you know. Changes colors with your mood." Motoki leaned on   
the counter and picked up the small silver ring in his own hand. "It is   
rather well made, you know. They usually are fake gold colors that chip   
in about five minutes. And the stones always look so... I don't know...   
but different from this one."  
  
"What color does it turn when you are unhappy?" Mamoru asked as he   
sipped at his rapidly cooling coffee.  
  
"Black, I think. On second thought, you shouldn't wear. Seeing black   
all the time might make you more of a social invert than you already are!"   
Motoki proclaimed dropping the ring back to the counter with a faint   
clatter.  
  
Mamoru simply rolled his eyes in response and hunched over his   
coffee. Suddenly, a small hand darted into his line of sight and snatched   
up the mood ring.  
  
"Oh, Motoki! What's this? Are you gonna give it to your girlfriend?"   
a bubbly voice sang out, invading Mamoru's quite talk with his friend.  
  
"Why, Odango Atama? Hoping he'll give it to you?" Mamoru said with   
a saucy grin as he turned to face Usagi.  
  
"I don't believe I asked you," she said with a frown in his general   
direction, though she didn't turn to actually look at him. She continued   
to face Motoki as her face and voice brightened again. "Well? Are you   
going to give it to Reika?"  
  
"I don't know," Motoki said cheerfully. "I've already given her so   
many rings she complains she can't wear them all," he joked with a   
lopsided grin. Usagi giggled and inspected the ring more closely.  
  
"It really is pretty. And it looks well made. Not like those ones   
you buy in a dime machine," she said softly before moving to put it back   
on the counter.  
  
"Strange, isn't it, Odango? Both you and Motoki seem to think this   
ring is something special. It's just a hunk of stone and metal after all,"   
Mamoru commented as he picked up the ring and slipped it in his pocket.   
"Think I'll keep it after all, Motoki. You might try to give it to Odango   
otherwise and how would she handle it when she found out it wasn't a   
declaration of eternal love?"  
  
"Oh, shut up, Mamoru! You're such a jerk!" Usagi yelled at Mamoru's   
back as he turned and strolled out of the arcade. Damn that irritating   
man. Damn him for being handsome and down right sweet when he wants to   
be. Damn that down right perplexing, irritating, wonderful man.  
  
Shaking her head in defeat she slid off the stool she'd been sitting   
on and smiled at Motoki. "I gotta go. Mom's having guests over and dinner   
is in half an hour. She'll go ballistic if I'm not there on time. See you   
later!" She said as she literally bounced out of the arcade.  
  
  
  
Usagi hadn't gone far before the glint of sunlight on metal caused   
her to stop and look for the elusive bit of jewelry, as she assumed it   
was. She sighed as she found only an old silver bubble gum wrapper. She   
picked it up and turned to throw it away. She absolutely abhorred   
littering. But as she turned, there it was again.  
  
Something on the sidewalk glinted up at her cheerfully. Almost as   
if it were asking her to pick it up. This time she saw it was a piece of   
jewelry. A ring, in fact. Mamoru's mood ring.  
  
She bent down slowly and picked it up. Quickly she looked around,   
but didn't see his dark thatch of hair anywhere in the relatively sparse   
crowd.  
  
She looked down at the small silver ring in her hand and smiled   
slightly. Sure, he hadn't actually given it to her, as she would have   
liked, but she could pretend it was from him. With out a second thought   
she slipped it on her finger. It fits so well! she thought, surprised.   
Her smile grew even wider as the ring's color almost instantly changed   
to a brilliant, dark blue.  
  
"You bet I'm happy!" she proclaimed in response as she threw away   
the gum wrapper and skipped off home, the ring winking happily in the   
sunlight.  
  
The Next Day  
  
Motoki rolled his eyes as Mamoru looked under the counter for the   
third time. "Stop! So you lost the ring, big deal! You didn't even care   
in the first place," he said as Mamoru checked under his coffee cup,   
again.  
  
"I know. I can't figure out what happened to it though. Hell, I   
can't even figure out why I *care* what happened to the darn thing."   
Mamoru finally gave up and spun around on his stool to lean back against   
the counter.  
  
Motoki raised an eyebrow and removed Mamoru's empty coffee cup. "You   
sure you can't think of a single reason you wanted that ring?"  
  
"Only that I didn't want Odango to get it. She'd probably break it   
and that would be a waste of a fairly nice piece of jewelry."  
  
"Are you sure there isn't another reason? Maybe you did want someone   
to have it? A girl someone?" Motoki leaned on the counter a little and   
whispered conspiratorially. Mamoru groaned and glared at Motoki over his   
shoulder.  
  
"Dammit, you know I don't like anyone! Why do you keep insisting I   
have some girl hidden in my closet?" he growled.  
  
"It's possible. You probably have a lot of things hidden in your   
closet," Motoki said as he straightened up.  
  
"Everyone has skeletons in their closet," Mamoru grumbled in   
response. He turned back to the counter and began to play with the sugar   
packets, attempting to build a house. He was carefully working on the   
third floor of his miniature pink mansion when a breath of air caused the  
whole thing to collapse completely. "Hey!" he yelled whirling around in   
his chair to face Usagi. "Why'd you do that?"  
  
"Because it was so darn funny," she replied impertinently as she   
giggled slightly. Mamoru glared at her then at the pile of sugar packets,   
then back at her.  
  
"It wasn't very nice, Odango."  
  
"You're never nice to me," she retorted as she sat on the stool next   
to his. But I wish you would be, her mind sighed, though her expression   
stayed resolutely annoyed.  
  
"That's beside the point, you lazy brat." Stupid, annoying kid,   
his mind growled.  
  
"Well, sorry!" Usagi yelled as she stood up. "Excuse me for   
breathing in your predefined space, Mamoru-baka!" She whirled away and   
slumped into the nearest booth out of earshot so she couldn't hear his   
grumbles.  
  
"Bratty little piece of--"  
  
"You did it again, didn't you?" Motoki cut him off before he could   
scandalize any mothers that might over hear his poor choice of words that   
Motoki was sure were about to flood out of his mouth.  
  
"Did what again? Let her annoy me? Damn that girl, she's such an   
annoying little--"  
  
"You could be nice," Motoki interrupted him again.  
  
"Why the hell would I want to do that?" Mamoru asked suspiciously.  
  
Motoki rolled his eyes and brought a hand up to massage his forehead.   
"Have you ever looked at her, Mamoru? Really looked?"  
  
"Why?" Mamoru asked, his suspicions growing. He turned slightly and   
looked at the door. Motoki was sounding as if he was about to land a   
complete lecture on politeness, which was a sure sign that Mamoru did   
*not* want to be around any more.  
  
Motoki noticed the little glance and quickly came around the counter   
and pressed Mamoru into a chair. "Don't you have any hormones at all?"   
he snapped.  
  
"Wha-?" Mamoru asked startled.  
  
"Damn it, look at her, Mamoru."  
  
Shocked, and surprised at this sudden mood swing in his usually calm   
and placid friend, Mamoru did as he was told.  
  
"What do you see?" Motoki demanded after a moment.  
  
"An annoying little cry-baby who couldn't get a good grade if her   
life depended on it," Mamoru said quickly off the top of his head.  
  
Motoki rolled his eyes. "Look harder."  
  
"Okay, fine," Mamoru said in apparent defeat. "So she's a *clutzy*   
annoying little cry-baby who coul--"  
  
"You are impossible," Motoki cut in before he could recite the whole   
list again. "Do I have to spell it out for you?!"  
  
"Spell what out?"   
  
"ARGH! Look at her! Can't you see how beautiful she is? Look at her   
hair, at her face, at her legs! She's practically a young goddess and   
she's head-over-heels in love with you but your such an idiot you can't   
see it!" Motoki practically yelled before remembering to lower his voice   
to a barely reasonable level.  
  
"She is... not..." but Mamoru trailed off before he finished his   
sentence as he finally did look. And, boy, did he look! He looked at her   
long, golden hair that fell to her knees. He looked at her gorgeous long   
legs shown off by the shorts she wore and the small, white shoes. He   
couldn't see her face, but he could imagine the beautiful blue eyes that   
would sparkle at him from within the perfect face with the perfect smile   
and perfect skin.  
  
Motoki smirked as realization hit Mamoru. But Mamoru shook it off   
as quickly as it had come and that undeniable truth left his gaze. "She's   
fourteen, Motoki. She's young. And as for the lov-- liking me part, I   
don't know where you got that," he couldn't say it. Suddenly that was   
what he wanted. He just wanted her to love him. But he couldn't say it.   
He could hardly even think it.  
  
"So what? You're eighteen. That's four years and a relatively small   
age difference. Heck, Reika is two years older than me!" AN: Just for   
the story... need it for the story.  
  
"But--" Mamoru tried to protest before Motoki continued.  
  
"And she does love you. She's told me so a number of times. She   
doesn't have a crush on me. I'm the older brother that she comes to and   
cries all her worries out to when a certain pig-headed idiot points out   
all her faults."  
  
"Well, if you like her so much, why don't you date her?" Mamoru   
asked, reverting to the defense. He didn't like the way this conversation   
was going.  
  
"Because, in my opinion, Reika's more beautiful and special than any   
other girl alive, even Usagi-chan," he said, almost flippantly, as he   
left Mamoru sitting there. He quickly retreated to the back room knowing   
it would be good to stay away from Mamoru for a few days till he realized   
he did not want to kill Motoki.  
  
Killing Motoki, however, was the farthest thing from Mamoru's mind.   
He found that the only thing he could focus on was Usagi's hand. She had   
her arms crossed, with her head resting on them, and he could quite   
clearly see her small, delicate left hand. And what was sitting on her   
tiny ring finger but his mood ring.  
  
It fits so well, too... like it was made for her. He didn't notice   
when he stood up and he didn't notice when he started to walk. It wasn't   
until he was standing right over Usagi that he realized he had crossed   
the room to her. She seemed to sense it too and she went instantly ridged.  
  
"What do you want, Mamoru-san?" she asked tiredly, her voice muffled   
from her arms. He couldn't speak, though. He was still shocked by seeing   
his ring on her finger, and then he realized the ring was black. It even   
seemed to be glaring at him.   
  
Black, the color the ring supposedly turns when you are unhappy...   
or depressed. He didn't want her to be sad. He'd never really wanted   
that. Oh, he thought that was why he picked fights with her, because she   
was so happy all the time and it just wasn't fair, but now his heart was   
yelling the truth straight into his mind's ear. You just wanted to talk   
to her.  
  
It was true. He just wanted to talk to her. And, damn fate, he didn't   
know how without being an insufferable jerk. So that's what he had done   
and now Usagi was sad. The ring proved it.   
  
But that was stupid. It was just a ring, it couldn't say if she was   
really happy or sad.  
  
"Well?" She said as she suddenly lifted her face to glare into his   
eyes. "What do you want?"  
  
He still couldn't speak. Shock was just beginning to leave him after   
his revelation that Usagi was a beautiful young woman. And a woman quite   
within his reach to have if he tried. And he would probably have to try   
hard... unless... unless what Motoki had said was true...  
  
"Oh, forget it!" she said forcefully as she slid past him and rushed   
out the doors. It was all Mamoru could do to stop himself from breaking   
down into hysterical, stressed sobs. This day had taken a horrible turn   
for the worse in the last five minutes and his brain was still trying to   
catch up and now, on top of everything, he had to go find that darn   
Odango Atama. 'Cause he had to talk to her, he had to tell her how he   
felt... now...  
  
  
  
Where is that insufferable little brat?! His mind yelled   
affectionately as he walked out of the park. He'd looked everywhere he   
could think of to find Usagi. The area around the arcade, the mall, her   
school, the park, he'd even gone to her house after getting the address   
from Motoki, who seemed very happy that Mamoru was not intent on cutting   
him up into little pieces and hiding him in the walls.  
  
Although, right now he was very tempted to do just that to a certain   
blonde girl when he found her. She surely didn't know she was driving him   
up the wall, but he didn't care.   
  
"When I find her I'm gonna--now how in Hades did she get up there?!"   
he interrupted himself as he finally spotted his evasive prey perched   
high on the walls of the Cherry Hill Temple.  
  
She was sitting with her back to him, looking over the temple   
grounds. The sun glinted off the ring on her finger and he almost lost   
his train of thought. He couldn't see the color from here, and he hardly   
dared to hope that it had changed from when he had seen it last.   
  
He climbed the steps slowly till he was standing a little ways from   
her perch, just far enough back that he didn't have to crane his neck to   
see her.  
  
She glared down at him without speaking and looked away, pointedly   
ignoring him.  
  
"How did you get up there?" he asked after a moment.  
  
"I flew," she shot back bitterly without bothering to look at him.  
  
"Odango..." he said warningly.  
"What?! Why did you follow me, Mamoru? I just want to be alone."   
There was a harshness, a sadness in her voice that made the breath catch   
in his throat. Oh, Usagi...  
  
She lifted her hand to push back an errant bang that had blown in   
her face and Mamoru glimpsed the ring. Still black as the night without   
stars, he thought, poetically, but quite at the wrong time.  
  
Usagi's eyes widened and she quickly looked down at her hand. "You   
want this back, don't you?" she said softly. "I found it on the sidewalk   
and picked it up and I was afraid I'd lose it, so I wore it. I figured   
you'd probably want it back and if I lost it after finding it you'd just   
yell at me. Not that I expected a thank you, you're always yelling at me.   
I guess I just have that effect on you. I don--"  
  
"Usagi, can I come up there?" he asked softly, cutting off her   
sudden flow of nervous babble. She nodded after a moment and he   
contemplated the height of the wall. "Umm... how did you get up there?"  
  
"There's a ladder over there..." she said softly pointing to a tree,   
where indeed, there was a ladder propped up. Mamoru flushed for a moment   
as he noticed it was in plain view and most simpletons could have seen   
it. To hide his sudden embarrassment, he quickly headed up and slowly   
walked over till he was standing next to Usagi.  
  
She wasn't looking at him; instead she was staring off into the   
distance again. He sat down slowly and just looked at her. He studied her   
profile and wondered for the hundredth time that day why it took him so   
long to figure out what a beauty she really was. His gaze drifted down   
to her hand and yet again the black ring seemed to be glaring at him.   
"I'm sorry," he said after a moment, his gaze locked on that tiny object   
on her hand.  
  
"What?" she said startled. He's... what? The shock in her voice   
pulled him out of the near trance and he looked up into her eyes, before   
she quickly turned away.  
  
"I'm sorry. I've been a total jerk to you and you don't deserve it."  
  
Wait... I'm confused, her mind protested as she simply sat in   
shock. Don't question it. Just accept it, a wise part of her conscious   
counseled her. She nodded slowly and doodled small patterns on the wall   
with her fingers. "I'm sorry too. I really was a brat."  
  
"You had every right to get mad at me, Usagi."   
  
She smiled slightly when he used her real name and then her eyes lit   
upon the ring. Oh, Mamo-chan. Why can't you be sweet like this all the   
time? And now I have to give back the ring... the one thing I have of you   
and it isn't mine... She looked at it for a moment, debating, then   
slowly drew it off her finger.  
  
"You probably have someone you were going to give this to... here,"   
she said pushing it into his hand. He didn't resist for a moment, simply   
catching it before he dropped it, as she stood up and slipped past him   
to the ladder. She was already on the ground when his mind caught what   
had just happened.   
  
"Usagi! Wait!" He cried as he leaped to the ground, not bothering   
with the ladder. The impact made him grunt a little but he shrugged it   
off and quickly hurried over to Usagi who was standing stock still at the   
top of the temple stairs, frozen from his cry.  
  
"Yes?" she said softly, refusing to met his eyes. She stared at her   
hands as they fiddled nervously in front of her.  
  
"You're right. There is someone I wanted to have this."  
  
Her heart shattered. Right then and there. She felt his words hit   
like a wreaking ball and pieces flew everywhere. I won't cry. Not here.   
Not now. Not in front of him, she told herself firmly as she felt the   
inevitable tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
"But I didn't know it till today," he continued. She gasped lightly   
as he suddenly took her hand and slipped the ring back onto her ring   
finger. She looked up in shock and blushed at what she saw.   
  
Mamoru was smiling down at her with adoration plain in her eyes and   
something Usagi was afraid to hope for, but wanted desperately. She felt   
her heart reassemble itself just a little, barely beginning to put itself  
back together as he went on.  
  
"I didn't figure it out till this afternoon actually. And Motoki had   
to practically shove it down my throat before my brain finally   
acknowledged what my heart was telling it." He stopped and Usagi was   
tempted to hit him if he didn't keep talking.  
  
After a while she croaked out "and?" from a dry throat.  
  
"And it has been yelling at me for the past four months that the   
girl I love to fight with is actually just the girl I love. The girl with   
the long blonde hair and the wonderful blue eyes is the girl I want to   
hold in my arms till doomsday and beyond."  
  
She blushed and looked at his hand, which was still holding hers.   
Usagi wasn't capable of speech anymore. That was all there was to that.   
She felt her heart suddenly become completely whole again. He'd just told   
her what she'd wanted to hear for months and she couldn't even move to   
hug him. He seemed to sense this, and moved for her.  
  
Suddenly she was wrapped in his strong arms with her head resting   
on his shoulder. "I love you, Usako," he whispered in her ear.  
  
Finally Usagi was able to move again and the first thing she did   
with her freedom was to angle her head so she could look straight into   
his dark blue eyes. "Really? You truly care for me, Mamoru?"  
  
"I love you with all of my heart, Usako. I'm sorry it took so long   
for me to figure it out," he whispered softly. A true apology that caused   
her to giggle slightly and blush.  
  
"I forgive you, Mamo-chan. And I love you, too. I have forev-" that   
was all she got out before he kissed her. It was all she could do in the   
next couple minutes to stop herself from melting into a puddle on the   
ground.   
  
As they pulled away slowly Mamoru opened his eyes to see her small   
hand resting on his shoulder. And the ring on her finger was a bright,   
brilliant, wonderful blue.  
  
He no longer doubted that this was no ordinary ring. It seemed to   
agree as it quikly disappeared from her finger in a sudden flash of light.   
Mamoru's last thought of the moment before he kissed Usagi again was how   
much he hoped the ring would be as helpful to the next couple as it had   
been for himself and his Odango Atama.  
  
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Ja,  
Zi-chan 


End file.
